At sunrise on Friday, three fully-loaded trucks left Urumqi, the capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, for Taldykorgan in east Kazakhstan, marking the opening of one of 22 new transport routes between the two countries.

"The newly-opened routes will connect the two nations' border cities as well as a network of inner cities, which is conducive to the development of logistics and trade," said Zhang Nan, vice director of the Xinjiang Foreign Transport Administration Office.

China has now opened 87 direct transport routes linking Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan -- 43 passenger and 44 cargo routes.  

(Xinhua News Agency September 4, 2006)